Maamigilee Constituency MP and Jumhooree Party Leader Qasim Ibrahim has backed the state of emergency declared by the Government, stating that the declaration was not in violation of what is said in the Constitution.
He made the statement speaking in the debate of the declaration, held on Thursday.
Qasim said that in the event the President deems that a state of emergency need to be declared, he can do so. He added that in such an event, there were specific clauses in the Constitution that can be suspended temporarily, which have been clearly specified in clause 253 of the Constitution.
“It is clearly specified in the Constitution what clauses cannot be suspended. One member had previously said that the period cannot be lessened from 14 days to seven days. That is clause 100 of the Constitution, which is not part of the clauses that cannot be suspended. The clauses which cannot be suspended are clearly specified; clause numbers 21, 25, 27, 28, 42, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 60, 62 and 64,” Qasim said.
Qasim also said that every single citizen was fully aware on why the state of emergency had to be declared.
“We all know that arms are missing from MNDF. This has been confirmed by MNDF and Police on public tv. At this critical juncture I do believe that action like this need to be taken to resolve the issue. The political situation is also dicey. Given the current situation, a state of emergency declaration was long coming,” Qasim said.
He added that he always wished for what was best to the nation and will always remain in the service of the nation. He assured that he will always lend support to the Government when required.
State of emergency does not violate Constitution: Qasim Ibrahim
